U.K. Housing Market Buckles
Under Weight of Credit Crunch

Updated Sept. 18, 2007 12:01 a.m. ET

The end of the U.K. housing boom has been a long time coming, but it has finally arrived. The 3% August drop in the average house price, as reported by property Web site Rightmove, certifies the beginning of the new era.

The end comes when prices are too high by any measure. The average house price, adjusted for inflation, hit the peak level of 1989, using an index compiled by Halifax Bank, in mid-2002. That was probably too high to...